


A Secret Shared

by RayneSummer



Series: Merlin - Episode Tags [5]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Episode: s04e07 The Secret Sharer, Gen, I need them to talk and have dinner and be domestic but also discuss things, also related to The Witchfinder, everyone beginning with G is great for Merlin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-27
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:00:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24944254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RayneSummer/pseuds/RayneSummer
Summary: Gwaine checks in on Merlin and Gaius this time, a few days later. Perhaps he should have come earlier, but he learns a few things over dinner.
Relationships: Gaius & Merlin (Merlin), Gwaine & Merlin (Merlin)
Series: Merlin - Episode Tags [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1794352
Comments: 2
Kudos: 161





	A Secret Shared

**Author's Note:**

> this just happened this morning,, I just need them to be domestic and talk and be family and I love them pls

“What’s all this?”

Merlin rolled his eyes. “Arthur feeling guilty,” he replied in a tone that suggested the king should indeed be very guilty.

Gaius, already sat at the table while Merlin sorted out dinner from the platter Arthur had apparently sent up, frowned at his ward.

“It wasn’t his fault, Merlin,” the physician said wearily, clearly having said the sentiment many times in the past few days.

Gwaine ignored Merlin’s dark mutterings in favour of taking off his gloves as Gaius turned to him.

“I didn’t thank you properly,” he started, and Gwaine waved a hand in an attempt to cut off the thanks. Being thanked was embarrassing and noble and Gwaine wasn’t into either of those things.

“Don’t worry about it,” the knight insisted with an easy grin. “I was dying for some action.”

Merlin shot him a look and Gwaine grimaced at his poor choice of words.

“I mean—”

“Well, I wish to thank you either way,” Gaius interrupted, and gave the knight a warm smile before gesturing to the stool at the end of the table. “Here. Join us for dinner. It’s the least I can do.”

Gwaine considered refusing but that seemed noble and angsty, so he nodded his thanks and took the seat, smiling to himself. The atmosphere here was homely and calm, and it soothed the adventures the three had recently had.

Merlin continued fussing with the brazier even after dishing up the chicken and potatoes for all of them. Gaius sighed and called to him. “Merlin, sit down.”

He looked over, fidgeting his fingers in a very un-Merlin-like way. Gwaine frowned a little. Maybe he should have checked in earlier than this.

Instead of answering, the boy followed with a question of his own. “Do you want a blanket?”

Gaius shook his head fondly. “No, but you will in a minute. Sit down, my boy,” he repeated, nodding at the bench opposite him.

Cautiously, Merlin approached it and sat, instinctively picking up a fork and poking at the food rather than actually eating while Gaius started on his. Gwaine put a potato in his mouth and chewed thoughtfully, watching his friend glare moodily at the table.

Alright, so maybe the boy had reasons to be angsty but if there was one thing Gwaine hated, it was silence. And if no one else was going to fill the room, then he happily would take on the job.

“Arthur says you aren’t talking to him.”

Merlin glowered at the table some more. “I talk to him,” he replied testily.

Gwaine waved a hand. “Yes, when necessary.” He speared a chicken piece and regarded it instead of looking at Merlin as he said honestly, “We’re worried about you.”

Predictably, Merlin looked up in surprise as though having people care about him was a far-off notion. Gwaine popped the chicken in his mouth and pointed the fork at Merlin dramatically as if the reaction proved something.

“He has been moping around here a lot,” Gaius mused, raising an eyebrow at the verging on betrayed look Merlin then sent him.

“And?” Merlin looked back down at his own meal he had yet to even try and consume. “Can anyone really blame me,” he muttered, more to himself.

“No, because you’re doing that yourself,” Gaius said measuredly. Gwaine nodded, having just about been able to say similar words.

Merlin scowled at the table again.

“You know why I _know_ it was Agravaine?” He said hotly, not looking up.

“Because he’s a creep?” Gwaine suggested, giving a grin when Merlin gave him a slightly lighter look. He could cheer the lad up yet.

“Because,” he continued, “the bastard called me to his chambers and asked me to deliver a dagger somewhere.”

Gwaine raised an eyebrow. Alright, that was slightly odd.

“If there were still dorocha about, he would’ve probably tried to leave me to them like he did with Gwen,” he added, trailing off into muttering by the end of the sentence.

Gwaine wrinkled his nose. He had no idea what that actually meant. But nothing had happened to Gwen as far as he knew so it wasn’t to be dwelled on. That path led to being noble and angsty and Gwaine did not want that at all.

“Luckily you did that yourself, then,” he went for, injecting some lightness into his voice despite the dark of that situation.

Merlin gave him an unimpressed look. Gaius looked similarly unimpressed, but it was directed at Merlin. Gwaine glanced between the two of them, unabashed.

The staring match ended after a second. Merlin glanced at Gaius, grimaced at his expression, and looked back down at his untouched food. Gaius sighed.

“You don’t have to talk to Arthur, but you will eat, or I’ll be confining you to your bed to stop you from collapsing in starvation and exhaustion,” Gaius said sternly in a very physician way. Gwaine smiled to himself. These two were good for each other.

Merlin moodily stabbed a potato and glared at it for a moment before putting it in his mouth while pretending it was poisoned or something.

Actually, Gwaine mused, if it had been, say, Arthur’s food, and Merlin knew it was poisoned, he would probably have eaten it more enthusiastically. The idiotically loyal boy.

“Yeah, don’t want to scare the princess again by falling over like a maiden in the middle of a feast,” Gwaine said with humour. He was none the wiser about why else that would have happened. Merlin frowned at him.

“That’s not—” He sighed. “Fine.” He determinedly stabbed a piece of chicken and ate it with unneeded aggression, looking back at Gwaine. “Happy?”

“Very,” Gwaine agreed, and grinned, because no one else was smiling. Gaius just sighed again. He probably did that a lot.

“Why did that happen, anyway?” He asked, suddenly curious. “You make it a habit to pass out in the middle of the great hall?”

Merlin actually huffed what could have been a chuckle at that. “No. That was only the second time,” he remarked, darkly amused.

“Oh?” Of course, Gwaine hadn’t been around forever, so there was plenty that had happened before he was in Camelot, but this was interesting. “What was the first time?”

“Drinking poison to save his royal pratness,” Merlin deadpanned, “because when you tell the king his son’s drink is poisoned, he would obviously make you drink it,” he muttered sourly.

“Obviously,” Gwaine agreed.

“Yes, and don’t do _that_ again either, Merlin,” Gaius said severely. Merlin looked like he was resisting rolling his eyes because it was equally obvious he absolutely would drink Arthur’s poison again, many times.

Gwaine hummed. “What else are you not meant to do again?” He asked conversationally as he ate another bit of chicken.

Merlin glanced at him. “Get captured and go missing for days,” he said dryly, as if he had any say in the matter.

“Right.” Gwaine nodded. “Yeah, don’t do that again.” He must have sounded uncharacteristically serious because Merlin raised an eyebrow at him, again looking a little surprised.

There was a short silence where they all ate, but it was companionable and nice.

“You know what else has happened twice now?” Merlin suddenly said, sounding savage. Gwaine shrugged in reply. “Gaius getting accused of things he did not do.”

Gaius sighed. Again. “Merlin—” He started, tiredly, but Merlin wasn’t having it.

“No, look, this is the second time this has happened and each time it’s like an apology is enough.” Merlin waved his fork around to make his point. “While we’re left to build from the bottom again!”

He angrily stabbed another potato, but didn’t eat it. Gwaine looked at Gaius, who shook his head minutely, asking for Gwaine not to encourage the boy.

“This time it had nothing to do with you, though, Merlin,” Gaius said gently, and put one of his hands on top of Merlin’s on the table when the boy moved as if to reply. “And neither time was the fault yours,” he continued, beseechingly, getting Merlin to meet his gaze. “So please. Look to the future, not the past.”

Merlin bit his lip, staring at his guardian, before giving a short nod. Gaius withdrew his hand, looking relieved. “Good boy. Now eat your dinner,” he said quietly, and Merlin took a breath, looking back down at the food.

Gwaine smiled. The three ate contently, the knight regaling his friends with stories of interesting things he’d seen on patrol the day before.

\--

Later, when Merlin insisted he didn’t need help cleaning up and Gwaine ignored him and helped anyway, he followed the boy’s vague gaze across the room to where Gaius was intently reading a book at his writing desk.

Merlin sighed and looked down at the dish he was drying.

“What did happen, before?” Gwaine asked quietly, taking the dry dish from his friend and putting it in the indicated cupboard. Merlin bit his lip and didn’t look up.

“There was a witchfinder,” he said eventually, fidgeting with the drying up towel in his hands.

Gwaine considered taking that aswell before it was twisted beyond use, but left it in favour of prompting, “And?”

“They thought… well, someone said magic had been spotted in the kingdom. And the witchfinder thought it was me. They searched and ruined this place…” Merlin looked around, obviously remembering, his eyes sad. “And found a bracelet he said was magical. So Gaius said it was his.”

Gwaine stayed quiet for a minute. “Was it yours?” He asked at length.

Merlin immediately looked at him with a fierce expression. “Of course not.” He glanced across the room again, eyes going distant. “It wasn’t either of ours. Aredian planted it,” he said bitterly.

He sighed and looked back at the cloth. “Gwen and I managed to get him back, and he fell out a window.” The boy twitched a smile at that. “An accident, but a good one,” he added hastily, glancing at Gwaine as though the knight would think he would throw someone out a window.

Gwaine grinned. “Sounds good,” he agreed.

Merlin let himself smile properly. “Yes. But the damage was done… he’d had Gaius for days, had made him confess when there was nothing to confess to,” Merlin sounded especially bitter, as though he should have been in that position instead, “And… we had to clear this place up without so much more than an apology from the king.”

Gwaine nodded thoughtfully. “At least the place is alright this time,” he offered, but Merlin wasn’t in the mood for positives.

“The king and kingdom that Gaius is unheedingly loyal to, by the way,” he seethed, now glaring at the cloth as though it had been the source of this anger.

Sighing, the knight put a hand on his friend’s shoulder, feeling him stiffen. “I know it hurts,” he said quietly, and Merlin glanced up at him in surprise. “But Gaius is right. The past is the past.”

He patted his shoulder and let go. Merlin blinked at him before giving a small smile.

“When did you become so wise?” He muttered in amusement. Gwaine grinned and mock-punched his arm in a playful way.

“When I started being around you, I suppose,” he replied, and Merlin huffed a laugh.

Across the room, Gaius glanced up and smiled, catching his ward’s eye with a nod to let him know that it was alright, they were allowed to recover, they were allowed to have fun and make the future.

Merlin’s smile faded a little and he looked back at Gwaine. “Thank you,” he said suddenly. “Seriously.”

Gwaine just nodded, and clapped his friend on the shoulder again. “Any time. And anything, for family,” he replied.

And he’d have to get back to the knight’s quarters eventually, and Merlin would have to warm back up to Arthur soon, but for now Merlin asked if Gwaine wanted to play cards, and Gaius came over and joined them, and the three sat around the table and focussed on the present for once.

**Author's Note:**

> what are endings


End file.
